Glutamate and Nutrition

Glutamate, a common amino acid, is found in abundance in nature. It is a natural

component in virtually all protein-containing foods, such as meats, fish, milk
(including human milk) and many vegetables. Glutamate is also produced by the
human body, and is an essential link in human metabolism. When glutamate is added
to food, several specific flavor characteristics are enhanced – such as impact, body or
"fullness", roundness, mouthfeel, and complexity. The recent discovery of a taste
receptor for glutamate on the tongue has confirmed that the taste of glutamate,
"umami", is the fifth basic taste along with sweetness, saltiness, sourness, and
bitterness.

A major function of amino acids in the body is to serve as building blocks for proteins.
Amino acids, however, are also the precursors of many physiological substances and a
source of energy. The intestine is an extremely active organ, producing a large amount
of mucous, and its cells have a high rate of growth. Its rate of protein synthesis is
about 4 to 5 times the body's average on a weight basis. It therefore needs and
consumes energy at a considerable rate. It has been demonstrated that food-derived
glutamate is the main energy source for the intestine. Studies using stable isotopes
have demonstrated that the intestine obtains most of its energy from amino acid
metabolism. In fact the intestine has a voracious appetite for glutamate, and it has
been shown that of all the glutamate eaten as food only about 4% escapes into the
body.

The rest of the body has to synthesize nearly all of the glutamate that is needed. This
is especially so for the brain where glutamate is used as a neurotransmitter. The blood
brain barrier which controls the type of molecules that enter the brain, does not allow
the passage of glutamate, so the brain has to make its own glutamate from glucose and
other amino acids.
The brain uses glucose as its main source of energy, and it could be said that the
intestine, by using glutamate as its main energy source, is leaving the glucose for the
brain.

Of all the organs the intestinal tract has the greatest contact with the external
environment, in the form of the food which we eat. It is therefore the body’s first line
of defense. Food-derived glutamate is required together with cysteine and glycine for
the production of glutathione, an antioxidant molecule that plays an important role in
the body's defense mechanism. The amino acid composition of breast milk is very
similar for many kinds of mammals, including humans. Glutamate (together with
glutamine) is the most abundant of the 20 kinds of amino acids, accounting for 20
percent of amino acids from milk. The fact that glutamate is present in large amounts
in human milk and all animal milk suggests that it plays a major, possibly protective,
role.

The taste of glutamate, umami, is deeply rooted in biology. Human beings have
enjoyed its taste and nutritional benefits from time immemorial. It can be expected
that further research into the functions of glutamate and analysis of genome data of
various organisms will give more insight into the origins of umami as a basic taste.

For further information about glutamate please visit our website www.glutamate.org

References:
Davis et al. (1994) J. Nutr., 124 (7) 1126-1132.
Chaudhari et al., Nature Neurosci., 3, 113-119.
Reeds et al. (1996) Am. J. Physiol., 270 (3 Pt 1) E413-418.
Stoll B. et. al. (1999) Am. J. Physiol., 277, E168-E175.

International Glutamate Information Service

Box 112, 34 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W ORH